The Association of Jewish Refugees unveiled a blue plaque in Sandwich, Kent, on Monday marking the 80th anniversary of the Kitchener Camp, which provided refuge to 4,000 Jewish men rescued from Nazi-occupied Europe.
Kitchener had its own orchestra, football team and even a 1,000-seater cinema built with money donated by the Odeon cinema boss, Oscar Deutsch.
Descendants of those at the camp were among guests at the ceremony, which featured Robert May and Adrienne Harris, whose fathers were brothers and were the directors at Kitchener. Also involved was AJR trustee Frank Harding, who devised its commemorative plaque scheme.
“It is with great pleasure that we are recognising one of the lesser known acts of rescue of Britain’s Second World War history," Mr Harding said.
“This is the 11th plaque in AJR’s scheme. We believe these will help form a tangible link between key locations where refugees from the Holocaust were welcomed.”
An interactive map on the AJR website shows the location of the blue plaques, with information and photos on each one.
https://ajr.org.uk/ajr-plaque-scheme/
